UNICEF - Bad water kills

The brief: Help UNICEF communicate the need for clean water in Africa.

The insight: Every year an estimated 1.5 million children die from the lack of clean water and proper sanitation, making contaminated water more lethal than war. It is clear to us that war is a terrible danger for many children, but the fact that dirty water is even worse is something not many of us know.

The Key Message:Bad water kills more children than war.

The solution: To highlight the problem extremely clearly, we wanted a picture that goes beyond all languages and cultural barriers so that everyone could understand its symbolism. We dramatised the message with a strong picture in which a child holding a water gun against her own head while looking directly into the camera. The picture is photographed by Henrik Halvarsson in collaboration with Marina Kereklidou.

The result: An instant classic that went beyond advertising. The girl with the water gun has spread all over the world as an icon to help explain and emphasise the bad water problem. Also, our work has been displayed at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York as a part of the exhibition ”Century of the Child”.